I have a situation where players stand on 3x3 platforms and they move around the room and the players have to hop from one to the other to get across. The platforms have their own turn in the initiative order and just take a move on their turn.

However, they often move to the side of the room where there are monsters with threatening reach trying to attack players when they jump from one platform to another. But if the player is still in reach of the monster when the platform moves away, does the monster get an opportunity attack against the player since the platform is moving and not shifting?

Or does this count as forced movement? If so, at one point the players control a platform and use a move action to command the platform to move. If the platform is moving as the result of a player's move action, does this not count as forced movement and provoke an opportunity attack?

As an aside, would the same rules apply to other situations, such as being on a wagon while crashing through a horde of orcs, or standing on the edge of an airship while flying past a dragon, or sitting on a Tensor's Floating Disk when it moves away from being adjacent to an enemy?

Does it make a difference who controls the "vehicle"? If the ritual caster sits on a Tensor's Floating Disk and uses a move action to move it, is that different from the ritual caster moving away and the disk following with another player sitting on it?

While the platform is moving is the player character doing anything distracting? in the case where the players are standing on something that is moving, the answer is probably no. In the case where the caster is commanding something to move, I can see an argument for yes.
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Colin DSep 12 '12 at 16:05

1 Answer
1

I wouldn't say the players were moving, since they're standing still on the platforms. The point of shifting vs. moving away from a monster, is that you can't do the latter without also dropping your guard. There's no reason why they would let their guard down while standing still on mocing platform (unless the platforms were shaking violently).